We got a real treat today as we attended the Southeast Police Motorcycle Rodeo. It was free and open to the public and was held in Pompano Beach in a large parking area of a shopping center.
The course looked tough and so many traffic cones were set up that we wondered how they did not get lost in the maze.
According to some of the riders, the course was very challenging. They were identical to those used for training police officers.
There were some 100 plus motorcycle officers participating in the event. Many came from quite far away, like the Carolinas, New Jersey and even Canada. Most were men but we did see one female competing. There may have been more but we did not stay all day.
They rode and competed for 8 hours, a long day in the hot Florida sun.
The rules were pretty tough, like you can't touch a cone or put their foot down. The riders were commenting how tight some of the exercises were.
According to one rider "You can turn the bike in a 360-degree circle. Harley Davidson designed it to do that within 18 feet. If a circle is designated at 19 feet, you don't have much room for error.
Members of The Wings of Gold Motorcycle Club served as volunteer judges for the event. They were on top of it, watching each rider and making hand signals as to the success or failure of the riders. We got this photo of the back of their vest.
There was also this huge Harley trailer truck that was almost a block long and sitting in front of it was a 2008 Harley Davidson XLH Sportster 883 that will be raffled at the end of the event. The badge painted on the side was pretty impressive too.
One officer from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina, was impressed with the setup. He said one of the courses was called the “Fun Run” and it was quite challenging and very tricky. He mentioned that the cone patterns were so tight and hard to turn and that he laid his bike down, but was not hurt, just his ego suffered a slight scrape.
We could hear the metal scraping the cement parking lot on the turns and it was amazing to see them handle those big machines. The way they moved their bodies to manipulate thru the tight swerves was almost like a dance. It was really something to see.
Most deputies and sheriffs are riding Harley Davidsons which weigh 750 to 800 pounds so it is extremely difficult to turn them in an 18-19 foot radius. All the exercises were a testament of their skills with the heavy motorcycles.
Our Vespas weigh about 250 pounds so it is amazing to think of them handling 3 times that weight. It was thrilling to watch.
As we were leaving we saw a mounted police on a horse. Quite the contrast. Talk about horse power!
9 comments:
Some great images of police motorcycles.
My first time here and I got to say you have a great blog going on.
You mind if i do a little review on it @ modvespa.com?
That's part of the training we do for motors out here. Of course, you can't teach if you can't do. The slow stuff is almost as hard as the fast stuff!
mod vespa,
That would be great. We are pretty new to the blogging and the 2 wheeling. But we really love it and have met some great online friends
irondad,
We thought of you when we went to the rodeo as you are a teacher and must have lots of experiences on the obstacle courses. Knew you would relate to it. So happy you stopped by.
I watched our motorcycle ciops practice on their harleys and they just lay them down gently enough on their engine guards when they lose the inside turn. Surprised me.
by heaven, policemen everywhere.. it's a rider's nightmare! ;-)
...just jokin'!
I was wondering if they had any chance to get a thief riding on all those huge tons of steel...
wouldn't policemen on Vespas be better? :-)
Ale-
L'Insetto Scoppiettante
All the pics are of Harleys. Don't any police departments down there run BMWs?
__Orin
Scootin' Old Skool
Conchscooter,
Thought you might get a kick out of this post as you probably work with motorcycle cops down there in Key West.
Ale,
Yes it was crazy to see so many police in one place. We think it would be fun to have policemen on Vespas. But only in Europe
Orin,
We think Harley Davidson must have some kind of monopoly with police groups as they all have Harleys. I guess Harley invests a lot in the police communities.
An excellent post. You're right, it is much like a dance as you watch them turn those big machines in such tight spots.
Thanks for letting us join you at this event.
Harley used to do $1.00 a year leases to police departments. The department was resposible for fitting allradios and emergency gear.
http://www.clermontcountyohio.gov/July2004citizen.pdf
Not hard to figure out why most police bikes in this country are?were Harleys. To the best of my knowledge the special leases are no longer available so we may see more brands out there - Honda and BMW both have police issue bikes.
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